Got the game as of 12 yesterday and put in 13 hours 48 minutes and it is now about 7:30 pm.
 
Every time you read anything about this game, it is usually pointed out that you can't get anywhere within the game without knowing how to read Japanese or having an FAQ or walk-through. This is correct.
 
The good thing is, after a few videos, some quick reading, and the occasional glace at an FAQ, I was good to go. I can now find my way through the menus and into the heart of the game with hardly any confusion. The setup for the menu is quite intuitive and if you play video games regularly, you should have no trouble.
 
The game is a blast to play. It's as close as you can get to a Smash Bros. game on a hand-held. I'm mostly addicted to the Koma deck creation system. It's fun figuring out which combination of characters, summons, and buffs you can throw together and take into a fight.
 
I'll have a review up coming soon.

I pull in my neighbors driveway to turn around and pull my car in, and the UPS guy shows up in a Budget rental truck. Jump Ultimate stars is being unboxed as we speak.

... is on its way! This is the only time I have ever done rushed, insured shipping- but I had a coupon that took some money off. I cannot effing wait.

So Mother 3 sparked my curiosity randomly. 
It started with checking out some old Earthbound reviews. Then with digging around for anything Earthbound related. Then after I woke up from my blackout, I found myself listening to the entire Mother 3 soundtrack. 
 
THEN there was a Gamebaz page open in my browser with a listing for the Mother 3 GBM for almost a thousand dollars.
And oh GOd there are 2 up on ebay for about 600 less... What the hell.. 

Why do I do this to myself? I'm going to have to play this. I'd prefer to do so legitimately, but I am so enthralled...

2 weeks until Christmas break. 2 weeks of lessened stress. And what does that mean? Time to knock some games out of the ol' unfinished list. So excited. So very excited. To see what list that pertains to, check out my "Games I Own that I Have Yet to Beat." That's a decent pile. Mostly RPG's too.

This will be the first game I've ever imported. It will take a portion of my paycheck. It will render me unable to pay my car insurance on time- WIN.
 
Getting to the point: I'll  be buying this from Play-Asia. I'm a bit worried because I have very little knowledge of the japanese language. I won't be able to read anything. I understand there are guides and such online, but what piques my curiosity is rumblings of english patches. How would those work? Would I have to have the game on a certain totally illegal device? Does anyone out there that owns this game have any advice to give me?

Just shy of 80 hours. Not bad for 20 bucks. Personal Game of The Year.
 
There's more to discover too. There's treasure maps that have some pretty badass bosses at the end. The DQVC shop is updates daily. I just discovered the secret shop in Dourbridge. There's TONS more alchemy for me to discover and so many quests to do AND I haven't unlocked all the classes yet.

Replaying it after almost 10 years? I have to say, it's better than I remember it. It could be because I've played so many more RPGs since then. That game really took away all the hesitation and opened my eyes to how awesome the genre can be. I'm actually discovering more depth. For instance, I never equipped Djinn that didn't correspond to the character's element type. Garrett never got anything other than Fire Djinn, Isaac; Earth Djinn, etc. Now I'm finding that Giving unlike Djinn to the characters actually alters their class and give or takes away different Psynergy. And I didn't know that you could level each element type with each character. 
 
Going to keep chipping away at this one. Then I have the sequel, which I've never even started up. Then in a couple of weeks, I'll probably pick up the DS title that just came out.